The abundant material gathered for this volume provides interesting guidelines and deep insights that yield not one, but a number of images.
With Armenians, as with so many others—and perhaps more with the Armenians than with any others, since they are so few—much of what is written is stereotype, derived from impressions rather than experience; but even these are instructive and significantly influence emerging images.
The references range from the enduring work of great writers to obscure books few may remember. But all have their value in this unique study.
Professor Leo Hamalian is “happy to report that Armenians are alive and well in Western literature. This book documents the various ways in which they are perceived by way of fiction and travel literature. Armenians are relative newcomers to America and exogenous to Europe, and perhaps for this reason have had no chance to see themselves as they appear in the eyes of their more recent neighbors. This study attempts to provide that important view from outside.”
